The Guardian
by Demitria Miriam
Summary: Sesshomaru intends to follow through with a pact he promised to fulfill upon his comrade's deathbed. And his promise was to watch over and protect Kagome's little brother in the future. one-sided SessxInu, and main-SessxSouta. Shonenai. Short chapter fic.
1. In Memoriam

Title: The Guardian  
Author: Demitria Miriam  
Rating: T+...ish, or more soft R?  
Pairings: Sesshomaru x Souta, (mentioned: Inuyasha x Kagome, one-sided Sesshou x Inu)  
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha and make no money off this piece of fiction.  
Note: ...yeah, I know. Very strange pairing for ME to be writing, huh? Though it came to me while re-watching the first season of Inuyasha, and it intrigued me so I decided to try it out (don't ask how the hell it came to me, it just did XD). Anyway- I call this "sorta canon-AU" since it starts with the canon plot (from the ending of the manga series) and then flows into my own alternate universe... well, it made sense to me anyway XD This should be really short... I actually probably could have made it a one-shot but I'm too anxious to see what people think of the pairing -cough- so yeah. Hope you find it as interesting as I do!

Summery: Kagome lived out her life with her husband, the half-demon, Inuyasha, back in Feudal times. Now that Inuyasha and she have passed on, Sesshomaru intends to follow through with a pact he promised to fulfill upon his comrade's deathbed. And his promise was to watch over and protect Kagome's little brother in the future. AU/AR (sorta). Shonen-ai. Sesshou x Souta. Short chapter fic.

* * *

**The Guardian**  
_Chapter 1: In Memoriam_

It had been 510 years ago to this day that he had made an unbreakable promise to her. One that, even if he could get out of it, he would not have tried to.

Over five centuries ago was when he had promised his brother's mate that he would watch over and protect that which she held so dear to her heart. The treasure she spoke of was a person she had to leave behind in her own time when she chose to be with her heart's companion, his little brother, Inuyasha.

He had been visiting Rin, who had been living in his sibling's village with her husband, Shippo, for many years now. They often visited him during the winter months for Rin's health as did their three children. However, on this particular day that he arrived, six months after the previous visit, the news of his brother's human mate's declining health came to him. The news, while not directly affecting him from its source, was still quite the shock, an odd emotion he'd come to name as "compassion" encompassing his being. Especially when he had followed Rin to the hut where his brother and the miko barely moved from.

The miko, Kagome, had had learned, would soon pass on from a human disease, her physical body having just turned forty-two. On her death bed, still smiling sweetly even through her pain and mild consciousness, she had said in reassurance, while holding her hanyou husband's hand, "I have no regrets, Inuyasha. I... My decision to come be with you here... I have no regrets. Our life together has been more than I could have ever dreamed for... I just... I just wish..." Kagome struggled with her breathing slightly. "I just wish I could be like you... to live for however long I wished... so I could see my brother one more time, to make sure he's okay and... to make sure he's happy."

He had heard her words before he entered the hut, and upon his entry, she turned her faded eyes to him, smiling.

"Sesshomaru..." she whispered hoarsely, Inuyasha at her side, his eyes never leaving that of his wife's face.

He nodded his respects to her, remaining silent. "Sesshomaru... you... once said that owed me a debt of honor for the times we've helped you... even if you didn't... need it," the woman rasped, taking a moment to breathe deeply. "I never intended to collect on that, because... you are... family."

Sesshomaru's eyebrow twitched, her emotion starting to affect him.

"However... should Inuyasha fail to-"

"Kagome, please..." her hanyou husband whined painfully from her side, his eyes glassy and looking down.

"Should Inuyasha... be unable to... fulfill this request... I... was hoping maybe... that you could."

He looked at her, his silence his agreement to listen to her proposition.

"My brother... aside from my family here... is the most important thing in my heart. But he's 450 years in the future... should either of you live that long... I was hoping... you would look after him for me, make sure... he's safe. You...don't need to meet him, merely watch from afar if you wish... just... please... I..."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and turned, pausing at the wooden door frame.

"Very well," he said in his deep voice, a slightly trace of emotion lacing his tone. He then said softly, "Rest well... Kagome."

And with that he left his brother to mourn, for his wife was sure to pass within the next day.

When he'd returned two weeks later he was told by Rin that the miko had passed away half a week after he'd left, Inuyasha staying for her burial and then having disappeared and hadn't been seen since.

Sesshomaru suspected his brother, regardless of his half-blood, was like any other canine, animal or demon, and wandered away alone to die.

The daiyoukai excused himself from his ward's presence for the rest of the afternoon, traveling to a small meadow not far from the village to think. In retrospect it was probably his own way of mourning the loss of a... companion? Friend? Confidant? Family... member? In this line of thinking, he realized that he thought of both the miko and Inuyasha as... his. They were his companions, his family and confidants, whether he liked it or not.

And as the years turned into decades, lives of those few humans he seemed to care for distinguishing, and those decades into centuries, he finally came upon the era his brother's wife was originally from. He had found her family the day she was born... It had been strange to see her in such a tiny form, but refreshing. He decided that since she had made it to the point of when she'd married his brother that she wouldn't need him for another ten years, at which point she would be older, have met his brother through the magic well, restored the Shikon no Tama and had made her decision to leave her world forever.

Until then he had decided he would travel for half that time before establishing permanent residence in Tokyo.

Until the day he would start his watch over his new ward, a 17-year-old Souta Higurashi, and fulfill the honor debt to his brother and sister-in-law.

* * *

Author's Note: Eep. . I'm... starting... to like this... pairing *croaks at such a sin* Nooo, my inusessssttt! Hehe. I had trouble deciding if I wanted to turn this somewhat "shonenai" (like elude to it) or something... iono. Anywho! Whatchya think?


	2. In the Present

**Chapter 2: In the Present**

He hadn't meant to meet the boy, never mind have a connection of sorts to him personally, but as chance would have it, their fates had seemed to deem it appropriate to intertwine them as teacher and pupil. The initial meeting between the two had been mere coincidence, destiny had nothing to do with it, or so Sesshomaru had tried to convince himself of.

Though, in retrospect... perhaps it was Fate. The more he thought on it, the more the notion became plausible, especially since he had been forced to take the train due his car running out of gas not a mile from home, and a crazy taxi driver kicking him out of the cab another block after _that_ since he'd just received word his wife had gone into labor. Not to mention he didn't really have many... "comrades" he could call for a ride from this area of Tokyo...

_The train it is_, he had, at the time, thought dejectedly, his distaste with the entire situation he was placed in unrelenting as he made it down to the subway unscathed and amongst, what felt like, the majority of the city.

He had boarded the train to EdoU, the cab unusually packed, and old, _human_ females, with their innocent, pruned faces, making it hard for him to merely stare at them in a cold, bored fashion and keep his seat... so with great agitation on his part, he stood, having offered an elderly woman his spot, taking care that she didn't happen to slide out of it (he'd then would have had the citizen's public service of actually helping her up).

He hadn't noticed the boy that boarded at the last stop who stood next to him, not until the train made an emergency stop (apparently some buffoon Sesshomaru spied in the next cab up, had pulled the red cord to see if the train would indeed actually stop upon one tug). Thankfully even though most of his youkai heritage was hidden to the human eye, Sesshomaru's senses and reactions were still far superior, and had fortunately been what saved him from falling against the elderly woman to his right who was furiously clinging to the bar of her chair.

However, nothing seemed to save the boy next to Sesshomaru from falling into the youkai without mercy, shorter arms grasping at whatever it was he'd fallen into before realizing it was a person and spouting out awkward apologies before large brown eyes met piercing gold.

The boy abruptly paused in his apologies then, merely gaping and stuttering as he regarded Sesshomaru. The demon in turn did the same (minus the stuttering and open-mouthed gaping). The moment his eyes had met the boy's face he knew who he was.

Higurashi, Souta. 17 years old, a freshman at EdoU.

That they would stumble upon each other on a train wasn't something Sesshomaru had anticipated. And while he knew he would be teaching at the same university that Souta would be attending he thought the chances of them being found in the same department and area of study was highly unlikely... yet somehow more plausible than meeting here of all places.

The teen blushed and looked away, finally stabilizing himself as he gripped a nearby pole."I- uh, sorry. I thought I'd had a grip on the pole but I guess not... heh..."

Sesshomaru merely stared momentarily before turning his head, giving a soft grunt of acknowledgement.

Throughout the rest of the irritatingly and abnormally long ride, Sesshomaru could easily feel the teenager's eyes burning fascinated holes into the back of his head, disturbing the youkai's concentration on being anywhere but in this specific cab, on this specific day with _this_ specific human adolescent.

The train finally came to a halt, announcing that it had arrived at the University's only exit.

Sesshomaru made toward the opening doors, his body brushing into another's upon exit. He looked over and caught sight of the Higuarashi boy. His eye twitched unnoticeably.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to- again, and..."

"Indeed," the youkai snorted quietly, throwing a sharp, quick glance back at the teen as he cleared the doors before they closed, leaving a surprised-looking Souta behind the doors and still on the train. Sesshomaru's brow creased as he paused in mid-motion, still staring back at the now departing train as his currently widening eyes caught the motion of the boy's lips uttering a name silently.

Sesshomaru was... to say the very least... shocked. Not because the boy had just missed his exit in lieu of staring at the demon in a very dumbfounded fashion (an admittedly reminiscent action of someone else he once knew)... but because... Higurashi Souta had...

...had, quite possibly unconsciously, silently mouthed his half-brother's name, apparently finding some similarity with the hanyou and a man... he just met.

"Inuyasha..." Sesshomaru said quietly to himself, eyes softening before shaking his head. He turned briskly on a heel and headed to the surface, the train he had watched leave the station moments before all but gone.

* * *

"If that's all the questions for today, then class is dismissed."

"W-wait, Professor! I have one last-"

"Oh! Me, too! I was hoping to ask Takahashi-sensei if-"

The professor sighed as his students fangirl'd (and fanboy'd) over his assistant. "Alright, alright. Calm down. Maybe next class I can answer everyone's questions and Takahashi-san can make a rare appearance in the front of the room. However, for now, he needs to concentrate on the work I've assigned him," the man said, hand and eyes motioning toward the figure quietly sitting in an attached office. "He's very busy and, with your paper coming up, so should all of you be!"

"Awwwww!" the majority of the class whined.

"Awwww- get going already!" the professor mocked, shooing his students out. "Geez, every time," he said grumpily after they had all dispersed.

"Professor Rauken," came that unmistakable tenor.

The professor whirled around. "Sesshomaru-san! Taking a break to come visit me for a while?" the man asked eagerly.

"No."

The professor visibly deflated, pouting, "You never visit with me anymore. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like me."

Sesshomaru stared, choosing not to answer and let his silence speak volumes of his annoyance.

Professor Rauken, thirty-five years old, nearly wept. "Oh, Sesshomaru-san, you're so cruel to me!"

The youkai frowned at the grown man before him. "To think, even without a blood oath to ensure such actions on my part, that I would willingly keep track of your family's bloodline... such a notion is completely beyond me," Sesshomaru said as he watched the man's pout turn into a knowing smile.

"Haha, oh, you know your lifespan wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if you hadn't met my great-great-great... well, you know, the originators of my _noble_ line."

Sesshomaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "The words 'ignoble', 'incorrigible', 'perverse' come to mind, at least in regards to your family's original patriarch."

"Say what you will, but we both know you're one big, soft, fluffy, heart-felt kind of guy underneath all that angry, glaring fringe."

"Here's the information you requested." The professor's statement had been given to deaf ears as the youkai tossed a folder at the man before turning to retreat back into the office, the thirty-five year old at his heels.

"Ah! As expected from you, this is perfect. Thank you very much, Sesshomaru-san."

"Hn," was the grunted response as the youkai collected and organized his things in a brown leather briefcase. "What exactly is it you're looking for in the southern Americas?" the demon asked, turning around as he gazed at the shorter man going through his findings.

"Oh? Nothing much. Just a rare canus flip... flipet-! Ugh, some long and highly unpronounceable name. Its specie is near extinct, you know, and only two have been seen since the feudal days. If I were to find this thing, I'd make history! Never mind, be sure to win the heart of some devastatingly gorgeous, light haired bishi-"

"I see. Good day then," the demon broke in, cutting off the other's fantasies with a glare and a flippant dismissal of self (and topic).

"Haha, fine, fine. See you next week, Sesshomaru-san. Have a good weekend!"

The demon paused in the doorway before turning his head, "You as well, Tomishi."

The professor stood there, half smiling as he watched the other walk down the hall and out the door into the awaiting noon sunshine.

Tomishi Rauken continued to watch, even when Sesshomaru had moved out of human sight... He couldn't help it. He'd known the male his entire life, the youkai known only to his family line, a demon they had kept in contact with since hundreds of years ago, ever since the era of his ancestors who had originally run into the distinguished figure... the ones that went by the names of Sango and Miroku.

* * *

Sesshomaru squinted as he walked outside, the sun's rays irritating his eyes as he couldn't help but look up into the sky. Seeing colorful spots, the demon looked down, blinking a few times before growing accustomed to being outside after having been holed up indoors for more than eight hours, thankful it was the end of the week and he could go home and relax. He turned down the street, having thought about it over the day and deciding it best to just walk the ten miles it took to get to his home instead of chancing another run in with the Higurashi boy, regardless that it looked like it was going to rain "cats and dogs" as the saying went.

A nearby "oomph!" caught the youkai's attention as he neared the entrance of a particularly dark alley. The demon paused, a familiar smell trailing into the depths.

"Not so tough now are you, kid!"

"Haha! Yeah, show him who he's dealing with, Rachet!"

_A mugging perhaps?_ Sesshomaru absently thought as he turned his head slightly, still trying to identify the familiar smell. Hn. In any case, it really wasn't any of his conce-

"It was his own fault! He tripped me on purpose!" came a third voice.

A voice the youkai recognized all too well from the train ride this morning.

_Higurashi Souta_, the demon could have cursed the boy's name.

Sesshomaru let a sigh escape passed his lips, beyond his limit of patience and sanity at this point. He looked up at the sky, a rolling thunder coming in as if Fate were intentionally trying to taunt him where he stood. He glared up at the dark clouds before he cracked his knuckles, pivoting sharply to his right and into the alleyway, growling lowly as he heard another "oomph!" come from the boy's lips.

Dropping his coat and brief case behind a dumpster as he spotted the small three-some in the very back, the youkai stalked forward as if he were hunting (a notion fairly fitting for what he felt when he saw the two bullies relentlessly pummel their smaller victim against a brick wall).

Golden eyes narrowed to slits, flashing red for only a moment, just as lightening struck behind him, lighting the sky up, as well as his predatory silhouette. The noise drew all three male's eyes toward the demon's direction.

Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles again.

The sky predicted a chance of rain, as did the Channel 4 News this morning, but the mood this day was putting the demon in was far more than enough to convince him that when it rained...

...it poured.


	3. From the Past

**Chapter 3: From the Past**

Premeditated droplets of this confrontation began to fall, slightly dampening all occupants in the alleyway.

Lightening sliced through the sky with a crack before thunder pounded, sending strong vibrations through the air, accenting his arrival to the small party.

He stood before them, surely looking like a frightening god with an earthly vengeance. They would cower, they would fear...

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes.

... they would be moronic teenagers and open their offensive mouths with profane atrocities.

"Who invited you to this fight, old man!" the boy had the audacity to say, taking in the new figure that had joined their small group.

Sesshomaru, who was for the most part able to keep reign of his inner emotions for the better part of his 900+ years, bristled like a threatened cat (an analogy he hated to use in regards to himself but it really was the only accurate way to describe how he felt at such a comment) Old! Indeed. He was barely the age his father was when he'd met Sesshomaru's mother. They hadn't had him until they were well into their mid-1000's. Tch. Insolent brat.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Who do you think you are interfering like this!" the second delinquent yelled out, sizing the new opponent up visually.

"..." Sesshomaru just stared at them.

The males, the larger one still keeping the Higurashi boy in a firm grip, seemed unnerved with the silence and the hard stare he gave them. And then a scent that he had always relished reached his nose despite the wetness of the sky.

The youkai smirked. "You have a right to be afraid," he said, voice naturally low, still staring.

"Shit!" one yelled out suddenly as sharp thunder rumbled throughout the slowly darkening sky once again, taking the humans by surprise in the otherwise eerie silence. The boys looked back at the man in front of them, gaining their composure. "We ain't afraid of nothin'!"

"Then why are you shaking, you stupid jerk-!" the Higurashi boy started antagonizing before the larger of his assailants gripped him harder and slammed the other against brick.

"No one asked you, you little shit! Now shut up and don't move, or I'll show you how weak you really are!" the boy threatened before he, and the other two, turned back to size up their opponent's possible threat.

Sesshomaru's eye twitched at the scene before him... he didn't like it. Even though these boys were human... even though they were vile, uncouth creatures that resembled wild animals in their treatment of their own specie... even though they were nothing like him... when they spoke that way, he saw himself with his brother all those centuries ago, before their silent truce and understanding emerged...

And he regretted.

Until he came back to the present and started to feel rage at himself for his past crimes... which seeped into contempt for these thugs and their current crime. It was easier this way, to put his emotions onto others than to feel and deal with them himself... He did not want to remember the days of his cruelty towards his kin, toward someone who... who had become so much more...

Lightening crackled throughout the sky as Sesshomaru's eyes flashed angry red. When the play of light faded into another rumbling thunder, his eyes were normal again. But the boys had seen it. For that brief, split second... they'd seen it.

All of them had.

This man... what _was_ he? The bullies that had held his newest ward captive tried to shake off the youki he'd sent into them when his eyes flashed. When hit with it, the feeling it caused was akin to anxious, coiled nerves that bordered on how one felt when having an anxiety attack. They swallowed their heavy thick saliva back into their throats before giving up their claim on their own victim and running down the alley, turning a tight corner and disappearing altogether.

Sesshomaru sighed inaudibly, disappointed. That did absolutely nothing to satisfy his frayed patience and sanity. He didn't spare the Higurashi boy a glance before turning around to find his belongings.

"Uhh..." the boy began meekly. Sesshomaru heard him shuffle to his feet, taking a few timid steps forward from the sound of it before, "I-Inuya-?"

"Do not say his name," the youkai cut in curtly.

"..." the boy's brow drew together, confused. "You mean, you aren't-"

"No."

"But you look a lot like hi-"

The demon felt a headache starting to fester between his eyes. "Rather he resembles _me_," the youkai mumbled, gathering up his belongings from behind the garbage bin as he sensed the young male coming up behind him, his tone anxious yet excited.

"Uh... Then... who are you? I mean, wow, you look so much like him! You have the same eyes, the same hair, the same... no offense- nasty short attention span."

Sesshomaru frowned. Why had he saved the boy in the first place if he was this obnoxious?

"Do you... know my sister?"

Oh, right. The Blood Oath he'd willingly linked himself to... one which required no actual blood as they usually did to get him to devote himself to a promise. But all it took to get him to agree to uphold such a lengthy and unsure mission was a look that had not been directed toward him from his younger brother. A look of the sorrow, of the unbearable pain he had been feeling hovering in the hanyou's eyes then.

That's what had done him in and landed him here now. And to honor his vow made so many centuries ago...

"My name... is Sesshomaru. I am... _his_ older brother," the youkai answered turning to walk toward the busy street, wishing to be out of the rain and expecting his new ward to be like all the others upon initial meeting and following him without question. However, when silence greeted him, he paused briefly and turned around, curious as to the boy's sudden lack of speech and movement.

He was met with huge brown eyes staring at him in wonder.

"W-Wow! You mean you're Inu- I mean, _his_ older brother? No wonder I thought you were him! I've never met one of his family before! I mean, sure, I'd heard about some cruel _older_ brother that always beat on... him..." Souta trailed off as Sesshomaru's expression changed. "Uhh... You aren't... please tell me I didn't just describe you?"

Sesshomaru sighed inaudibly once more. "I am not innocent of... my past transgressions against my younger brother, at least in the beginning. Though things did eventually... change." _More than I wanted them to_, the demon added silently, absently.

"Oh... but... you're a demon then, right?"

The droplets grew to large splotches. And it began to pour.

Sesshomaru stared up at the sky for a moment in contemplation, the skies tears landing in his eyes before slipping off to the side and down the majestic face. When he looked back down the boy before him seemed to physically tighten, gasping like something had startled yet entranced him upon locking gazes with the demon's.

The youkai paid no mind to what the human could be so transfixed by upon setting eyes on him; the thought that Souta had gasped at the sight of his pained face, droplets of water escaping the sides of his face due to the rain looking more like suffering tears... would never occur to the regal man.

Sesshomaru blinked away the wetness of the rain, and said tiredly, "I suppose... I ought to explain a few things to you, Higurashi Souta."

"You- You know me?" The demon gave him a look that wondered if he was really this slow or if it was a human trait in general. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm just... kinda anxious. I mean, I haven't heard from my sister or... you know who... in _years_. I guess..." the boy had a sad light in his eyes, a yearning to see his sister again, to know how she was faring.

For some reason, the youkai didn't want to explain the details of how he became privy to his knowledge of the boy. The news of his sister's death... would inevitably be a shock, to say the least. He understood such a feeling all too well. But for a human...

It would be... far harder for a human to cope with the loss of someone. A youkai grieves, their pain of loss spread throughout their lifespan, never leaving them but never usually consuming them or bothering them until occurrences that reminded them of their initial loss came about, and even then the pain was usually limited. Though a human... a human suffered the full on pain again and again until they reached understanding, possibly feeling a twinge of sadness every now and then years later. Their way of feeling grief, though briefer than a demon's and more compact, was far more difficult to deal with... far more unbearable.

He knew that at least of humans. He had seen it enough, first with his brother over his young wife's sudden death, and then with the descendents of Inuyasha's old pack. Decade after decade, century after century he saw this.

He knew.

But he did not fully understand. And he quite possibly never would. Yet... after having lost so many in his 900+ years... the only death he truly mourned the way a human would... was _his_.

Sesshomaru sighed, unnoticing of how heavy the rain had become, of how far the temperature was dropping until he heard a sneeze, drawing his attention to the human's needs.

"If you wish, I will explain everything to you at my home," the youkai offered. The boy nodded fervently, shivering. "We'll take the subway then. Come."

And with that, they left the alleyway.

* * *

The boy must have had unlimited faith in Sesshomaru's little brother to have followed a man he'd just met in a dark alley all the way to his home. And all based on how "similar" the hanyou and he looked. Never mind that he'd gone into said man's house based on that opinionated likeness, done as instructed by the demon and used the guest bathroom's shower to warm up.

Sesshomaru snorted to himself as he readied a warm drink for the boy, wondering how on earth he'd stayed alive this far, regardless that the modern area was (somewhat) less primitive than the feudal days. For all the adolescent knew, all demons from five hundred years ago could have had white hair and gold eyes, and Sesshomaru himself (even though he wasn't) could have been a murdering child rapist, luring children in with his demonly ways.

The youkai felt like rolling his eyes. _Such a preposterous notion_, he thought, shaking his head as he stood silently in his kitchen.

The kettle suddenly whistled then as the water supply's rush to the guest bathroom stopped, signaling the end of the Higurashi boy's shower. Perfect timing. The tea was done, the young male had warmed himself up and the old clothes Sesshomaru found in the back of his closet were laid out on the kitchen counter behind him. He turned around to pour the tea into cups-

-and almost poured the fragrant, steaming liquid onto the table instead at the sight that stood before him.

Though human Higurashi Souta certainly was, there seemed one of two possibilities for what had just happened in the youkai's mind. Either the boy was extremely stealthy, like a ninja, or Sesshomaru had been that focused on how loyal the teenager was to have even noticed his bare feet padding into the kitchen...

...with only a towel around his waist.

"Uhh, hi," was all the young man said, rubbing the back of his head as he seemed to search for the words he wanted to use. That, or he was somewhat put off by the way Sesshomaru merely stared expressionless, kettle held still in midair, hovering over the tea cups. The demon, however, wasn't bothered in the slightest by the other's awkward pause, absently continuing on with his assessment of the freshmen.

Hm. It would seem that his earlier deduction and constant reference to him as the "boy" was inaccurate. While he was young, especially to Sesshomaru's 900+ years of age, he had nearly reached the human's standard for adulthood, this accentuated by the lightly muscled torso the Higurashi bo-... male... bared said he was anything but a "boy". He really was more of a young man than a child...

"Is something wrong? Did I not wash all the suds out of my hair or something?" Souta asked quickly, red-faced as he fumbled with his hair, the towel wrapped around his narrow hips threatening to fall.

Sesshomaru blinked before he realized what he was doing, the "child molesting rapist idea" suddenly not as far fetched as he'd originally thought (though completely implausible still to him specifically, he nodded to himself affirmatively). The demon cleared his throat, shaking his head to assure the other that he was free of soapy residue before motioning to the clothes on the table, nearest to the half-naked teenager.

"Oh, heh, thanks! I'll be right back!" The young man darted back to where he came from, slamming the door as he raced to change in record time. Sesshomaru had just finished pouring the tea (into the actual cups and not on the table) as Souta emerged. Both sat down at the table and quietly drank the tea before he began the story without being asked an initial question, Souta listening intently regardless.

"Your sister... Time shifted when she came back. While this is for the most part completely unimportant to the story, it is still something you may find interesting.

"It may be... very difficult for you to understand fully, but, while it has only been three years since her departure from your world to the past to you... it has been more than five hundred years since I last saw her and my brother.

"She was... around twenty in your human years when she left Tokyo to return through the well, correct?"

Souta nodded, "Mm, about, yeah."

The demon nearly faltered with what he was about to say, trying to do it as 'gently' as he was able, reiterating a few choice phrases from earlier.

"As I have said," he began slowly, "it has been more than five hundred years since then,... Souta," the youkai then finished, trying the boy's name out on his tongue.

The youngling didn't seem to be following if his confused, scrunched up face was anything to go by. Sesshomaru looked off to the side for a moment before he tried again. "Your sister was forty-two the final time I saw her."

"Forty-two!" Souta exclaimed. No way! Kagome? Forty-two? Old? Like mom? He just couldn't fathom it, the youngest Higurashi's mind spun. "Wow, does she have any kids? Is she a grandparent? What's she doing... now..." he started trailing off slowly at the end.

Sesshomaru remained silent, allowing the inevitable storyline to sink into the young one's conscious.

"It's been five centuries since you last saw her... and she's only human... she's not like... not like you or Inuyasha," the boy said softly, staring down at the table. "She's... gone, isn't she?"

A jolt went through Sesshomaru at that last strained question that truly was more of a shocked statement. He remembered once, very long ago, when Inuyasha was about Souta's age... though to the human eye and mentally no more than a ten year old... he had come upon the small hanyou, no taller than his hip back then, standing next to his mother's fresh grave. He had asked the same question without turning around or knowing who Sesshomaru was to him.

A stabbing pang gripped at the demon's chest.

"Yes," he answered equally softly. A cloak of silence enveloped the two in the kitchen for a long time, both lost in their individual thoughts and pain. It had been nearly an hour before Souta spoke again.

"How?"

"A human disease known today as cancer."

Souta's breath hitched, eyes glassy but not leaking. "Did she... suffer?"

"I... am unsure. She knew remedies from your time and had fought off the disease for many years because of it. However, in the end, it had taken over her system," Sesshomaru answered. At the look of ache he received at his reply he started up again. "I was told later when I returned by my ward that she didn't seem as if she had been in pain, and had smiled until her last breath."

Even to himself, had that sentence been about someone Sesshomaru had known, it would have been nearly unbearable to hear, never mind smile over, but smile Souta Higurashi did. "Heh, sounds like her. She was kind of strange like that; she was usually able to block out pain if she fell when we were kids and scraped up her knees real bad. Initially it'd hurt, but... after a while, it's like she either overcame it or ignored it."

Sesshomaru listened now intently. Higurashi Kagome... it seemed back then, and quite possibly even now due to his own personal issues, he hadn't given her enough credit... hadn't thought she'd been good enough...

"I remember a few times Inuyasha had mentioned his older sibling, Kagome did, too, but... it wasn't usually anything good... How did you know her so well? How'd you know about the well and about me and the future? Did you fight that bad guy Naraku? What'd you mean when you said-"

Sesshomaru sighed audibly, effectively quieting the young man down.

"My past before Naraku's existence interfered with all of our lives... is not something I particularly wish to dwell on right now, nor explain," came the curt, yet truthful answer. "However, because of Naraku's obsession with my younger brother and his dead priestess, my sibling's pack and my own united eventually. Demons are not barred from changing just like humans. Though sometimes it may take a little longer for those of youkai heritage to..." Sesshomaru searched for a good way to phrase it without damaging his pride.

"Get your heads outta your asses?" Souta offered with a smirk.

"I see you have picked up on my little brother's uncouth habits. As your guardian I will have to rectify that," the demon said, a smirk of his own playing lightly at the corner of his mouth.

"My mom can't even get me to behave, what makes you think you can?" the boy snarked back, chuckling.

"I have my ways," Sesshomaru replied. "I am a demon do not forget. I could easily overpower your human body."

The words he spoke, while true, still had the unintended affect of causing Souta to blush and laugh awkwardly. "Uh,.. so,... how'd you come to... I guess, volunteer for the title of "guardian" to me? And what the hell? I don't need anyone to do that. I can take care of myself!" the boy fussed, making a face.

"Any good, older sibling wishes for the protection and preservation of their younger siblings. It was only natural that your sister be concerned."

"Yeah, I guess..." a sigh escaped.

"In any event..." the demon moved on. "I was not overly fond of the situation, and when I came upon the village your sister and my brother resided in one day, I found she was taken with illness and making ready to leave this world. That was when she wished to make her last request to Inuyasha, and, for whatever reason of her own, to me as well, regardless that neither of us knew if we would live or care to live long enough to see her wish through."

"Then... why'd you accept? If you didn't know if you'd be able to fulfill her last wish, why- why'd you give her false hope when she was about to die!" the seventeen year old teared up, trying to hold the knowledge of his sister's inevitable death in the past at bay, still not quite ready or willing to believe it.

"It was not false hope since I am here now," the demon said a bit too tightly as he stood, frustrated with how this conversation was making him feel. How the boy's pain was making him feel...

He walked around the kitchen, leaning against the counter behind the young male. "And I accepted her offer... because it was all I was able to do..." Sesshomaru trailed off, his eyes traveling back to past memories.

Souta sat quietly, staring ahead for a bit, before he softly prompted, "All you were able to do?" He turned after a few more moments of silence to regard the older man behind him and his breath hitched at their proximity as he breathed out, "For... what? All you were able... for what?" Souta gulped.

The youkai's golden eyes shimmered and instantly turned intense as he gazed at the teenager, their faces no more than a breath away from the other as he kneeled so he was face to face with Higurashi Souta.

Sesshomaru replied, lowly, fiercely, and full of unrestrained, raw emotion. "For a love that had no hope of requital."

* * *

Author's Note: Remember the summary, people! This is a shounenai, (overall) one-sided SesshxInu, main SesshxSouta fic! XD Hope you liked it!


	4. Unravled

**Chapter 4: Unraveled**

"No hope of... returned love?" the teen's face twitched. "Were- Were you... in love with Kagom-?"

"Ridiculous," the youkai cut in, snorting as if he'd smelt something nasty at the mere thought.

"Then..." Souta trailed off, eyes roaming around sightlessly before hazy yet startling realization dawned on him the next moment, eyes widening as he looked up at the man before him slowly. "You mean... you... you were in love with...," the boy started to say.

"..." No answer came forth but the deafening silence seemed proof enough for the human male.

Souta stared, a look between horror and fascination coating his features. He couldn't believe it.

This beautiful, mysterious man before him.., had been in love with... his blood, his kin... his own... brother...

A dull ache pulled at Souta's eyes, the feeling reminiscent to that of having a spec of dirt just out of fingertips reach. And yet, regardless of the surprising fact that this regal being had been in love with his own sibling... it somehow didn't alter Souta's initial view of the demon at all. He'd hardly known the other male for more than five hours at this point and already the adoration he started out with seemed to intensify each moment he spent in the youkai's presence. This strange... extraordinary pull the other had on him... it somehow... diluted everything else and left only the raw presence of inordinate fascination... a feeling he hadn't felt toward anyone since... well, since he'd known Inuyasha.

But the feeling, the force that pulled him toward this man, this demon... it was significantly _different_ than the one he'd felt toward the hanyou... and for some reason, much more fragile.

Souta tried taking it all in, squashing his own feelings to the side so he could try and focus on what the male before him was saying...

He'd been in love with Inuyasha... He'd felt for his hanyou kin as kin these days weren't allowed to and simply shouldn't... and yet still, now, he freely admitted (rather insinuated) to having a much deeper fondness for his half-brother than that of mere siblings. And even when Sesshomaru had known he felt the way he did for Inuyasha... he'd just stood by as the half-demon wed Kagome, had watched as they lived their lives together, happily. And then he'd...

...he'd accepted the responsibility of her last request?

To watch over... him?

Something snapped; a feeling lying unceremoniously between sadness, anger, and... something else, exploding in the human boy's mind, fueling his passionate outburst.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Souta suddenly shouted, eyes blazing at the demon before him.

The angry, abrupt words took the demon off guard for a moment before an elegant eyebrow rose in question as to what the boy was referring to.

"How... How could you accept a dying wish like that... from someone who stole the one you loved away? Wouldn't you want... _didn't you want_ neesama to hurt? You could have ensured that! And then you go and say yes to her request? Were you dropped on your head when you were a baby?" the teenager continued to rant, unsure of whether he was upset for his sister's sake, for his own... or if it was Sesshomaru he was getting upset for.

The youkai stared, noting that the boy's behavior had escalated rather dramatically since his admittance of his unrequited feelings. "I fail to see how bringing grief to a dying woman and her mourning husband would serve to make anything better... for anyone." Souta paused in his huffing, listening briefly to Sesshomaru's practical observation. Though the frustration built up again seconds later and the human's face started contorting into various masks of shock, pain and irritation. The demon continued.

"You may, perhaps, be too young to fathom that when you truly love someone, you are more than willing to give them anything they may require of you. Even if what they require is not knowing of your feelings and supporting their happiness by allowing them to live with what or whomever it is that makes them happy, even if it is not you who is their other half."

"That's... that's...!" Souta started off, standing up and pounding the palms of his fists on the table. How could Sesshomaru feel like that? When you really loved someone, weren't you supposed to fight tooth and nail to have their love returned to you? Weren't you supposed to go to the ends of the earth to retrieve that happiness? He... didn't understand... why would Sesshomaru... just give up? Why would he let...

Souta started to panic, his mind having already ran into overdrive long ago from being overly exhausted, both emotionally and physically, his body only now catching up. He was unaware of the fact that his limbs had begun to twitch, his knees and their initial balance trembling before giving out completely.

As reality around him wavered, he thought he'd felt something strong catch him, a voice telling him, "That will be enough talk for now," and an uttered decision that he would be resting "here" for the night...

...before everything...

...everything went soft and dark.

* * *

Awareness kicked in as he took in a big, yawning breath, his mind feeling a little better than the last time he'd been awake if his memories of pounding headaches and stubborn, pained demons were correct. He remembered wanting to kick the older man he'd been talking to in the shins and-

_Sesshomaru!_ he shouted the name in his mind, recalling just who he'd been yelling at and wanting to physically assault. He snapped up in bed-

...only to realize the next moment that he was unable to actually "snap up in bed" in the first place.

_What the heck was..._ Souta looked down.

A long, lightly muscled arm tipped with claws lie heavily across his... chest...

...his... bare... chest...

"AHHH!" Souta yelled out, pushing backwards and falling out of the bed, not noticing the tight wince his piercing shriek caused the other bed's occupant. He landed with a thud and an "Oomph!" on the floor, pillows flying over his head, his legs tangled in sheets he hadn't realized he'd wrapped himself in... and... since when did he ever sleep so soundly that he wouldn't remember how the hell he'd gotten in bed with another guy in the first place?

Souta paused, dismissing his last statement quickly, frowning a bit at his predicament and the fact that his head was once again beginning to pound.

"Do you always bellow in the morning like that, or is it simply a human trait to disturb everything within five feet of you upon initial consciousness?" came a deep voice from the bed, instantly sending something warm and fluttering and... really embarrassing now that he realized his situation fully... down his torso.

"I... uhh..." What exactly did you tell cranky five-hundred-plus year old demons when they asked stuff like that?

A growly yawn sounded and Souta peeked over the top mattress to see a stretching demon in his, well, _the other's_, bed. As he continued to stare his foggy brain began to clear up, sharpening the things he saw around him, adding necessary details every so often. Like... the fact that the stretching youkai had... long limbs... strong-looking arms... a defined upper body that he could only wish to have someday... and... that when the demon twisted his torso to one side, growling appreciatively when it cracked, the sheets and comforter covering his lower half... quite possibly were the only kind of cloth the youkai may have had on him if the exposed dip from hip to pelvis was anything to... go... by...

"AAHHH!" Souta yelled out once more, falling backwards again to where it was safe, slightly adjusting his position so that his head was somewhat under the bed to ensure no nearly NC17 rated demon was seen from his peripheral vision, and absently chanting "Ohgodohgodohgodohgod", under his breath which was better than the "O.O" going through his head.

An audible sigh escaped the sleep-hazed youkai once the boy's theatrics seemed to have waned. "It is entirely too early in the morning for you to be having your human panic attacks; go back to sleep."

Souta gaped from his cave. Sleep? How was he supposed to sleep when there was a... a... demon... "in my bed... and naked!" he thought out loud before he could stop himself. Thankfully he was halfway under the bed and any steam emitting from his overly flushed face filtered throughout the narrow, occupied space instead of the majority of the room, which would only serve to openly mortify him further.

"I am not naked, and you were the one warming my bed linens this day's eve if I remember correctly," Sesshomaru said all too casually.

_As if... as if he had young, human adolescents in his bed all the time!_ Souta scrambled out from under the enormous bed before climbing half-way onto it to stare, openly scandalized, at the bored-looking demon lying on his side, eyes half-closed.

Sesshomaru softly blew out once again. "Now what is going through that loose brain of yours?"

"_Nothing_," the boy said, frowning at the fleeting thought that even in the morning the guy looked immaculate, climbing the rest of the way onto the king-sized bed. Face slightly aflame, the seventeen year old chanced a look. It was a huge bed... so... why was Sesshomaru all the way on Souta's side?

Had he gotten cold during the night?

_Hmph. Maybe he's used to having bodies warm his bed_, another part of him mentioned before he promptly shook that thought to death, his attention shifting once again when the demon moved to lay on his back, one arm snaking underneath his neck, the other lying contentedly across a smooth stomach... the sheets fluttered down his body a bit more and the conclusive evidence was seen...

He wasn't naked... just... shirtless... with his mouth... slightly parted... his eyes... closed... and unable to see Souta's lingering... appreciative stare...

Souta's eyes bugged before he squeezed them shut, throwing his head side to side frantically. _Gay thoughts, gay thoughts, gay thoughts! Bad, bad, bad! No, no!_

A growl rumbled softly, catching the teen's attention. "Cease your fidgeting, boy, or I will render you unconscious myself," Sesshomaru said lazily, forearm moving from behind his neck to cover eyes now.

Souta fell back on to the pillow behind him, grumbling slightly. "And here I thought it was only girls that got cranky in the mornings..." he hmphed to himself.

Or at least... he thought he had.

He felt a slight shift from the side of the bed and then before he blinked a second time Souta found he had a face (and lap) full of youkai, golden eyes narrowed angrily.

"I have tortured many a human for less comparisons, and have yet to allow any one insult to go unpunished." the demon said, allowing the boy's eyes to widen perceptibly. "Higurashi Souta," Sesshomaru began, moving so his face was directly in front of the other's in the intimidating fashion he preferred. "What do you suppose would be a fitting punishment for the crime you have committed against this Sesshomaru?"

Souta lit up from head to toe, so transfixed by the other's mouth hovering in direct eyesight... the youkai's eyes hypnotizing...

The teen blinked himself back to reality, doing what any smart kid in his embarrassing situation would do... He began to shout obscenities at his captor for bullying him this early in the morning, making sure the demon took him seriously as he snapped his neck upward...

...his flapping mouth meeting that of Sesshomaru's.


	5. Flustered

**Chapter 5: Flustered**

Of three things he was absolutely sure about.

First, he was in another guy's bed. Second, that said other guy was actually an older man... or rather, an ancient man that happened to be his brother-in-law!

And third...

Their mouths... were touching.

And the demon wasn't moving. And _he_ wasn't moving.

...and the other's mouth was so soft.

Souta nearly sighed before coming to reality, eyes widening in shock, body tensing as he stared ahead at what he was doing, at who he was doing it with. Straight into piercing, golden eyes.

"_GAH!_" the teen shouted, ripping his mouth and body away, gracelessly falling off the bed with the force of his ejection from a rather uncomfortable position. He landed with a pained "Oomph!" wincing before he looked back up the length of the bed.

"Uuhh..." Souta stammered, blushing wildly. _What the hell do you say in situations like this? Gee, sorry my mouth kissed yours? That I wasn't paying attention to your personal boundaries and violated your bubble? That your lips are really warm... and soft. And you taste like warm cinnamon...-!_

Whoa! Whoa! What the hell?

"Your fluster dance leads me to believe you enjoyed that little accident," came the demon's deep (well, deeper than his), amused voice.

"Fluster dance? I don't fluster dance! And if anyone enjoyed that... that _life altering trauma_ it was you! You didn't move at all!" Souta accused hotly.

Sesshomaru stared at him.

"Well?" the boy pressed.

"Indeed, I did not move," the youkai admitted, as it was (and it was) the most obvious thing in the world.

An exasperated groan escaped Souta as he gave up and fell backward onto the floor, throwing an arm over his eyes. "I swear, if _how okay_ you are with what just happened doesn't kill me, your total lack of empathy on my part _will_."

The sound of the demon moving on the mattress was overlooked by the one currently drowning in his own embarrassment upon the floor, a fact he should have paid a little more attention to. Had he, he wouldn't have been so surprised when a heavy thud and a heavier something fell on top of him.

"Wha-!" Souta began, startled.

Once again he came face to face with those enchanting gold eyes, mesmerized by how piercing they were. A moment or two passed in utter silence as the demon allowed the human to fall into whatever awkward fantasy was surely playing in his head before a devious grin fell upon Sesshomaru's mouth and he maneuvered closer to the boy mischievously.

"Boo," the demon whispered, breath caressing the boy's face teasingly.

Not a second later and the reaction was instantaneous.

"AHHH!"

Sesshomaru snorted softly, either of his arms holding himself up as he arched over the startled youth on hands and knees. "How amusing. Does being so close to another male disturb you so much? You didn't have this kind of reaction toward the boys that held you up in the alley the other day."

Souta looked to the side abruptly. _Yeah, well that was kind of obvious_, he thought. "Those guys were just punks," he trailed off. _You're not like them..._ his mind wandered. _You..._ "You're... different."

"I take it then that it's because of our relation. And because of my brother," the youkai pushed himself up, creating some distance between their bodies, all his weight transferring to his legs as he remained in a straddling position.

"No, not... It's not just because of Inuyasha. I mean, I guess that helps but... and it's not because you're a demon.."

Sesshomaru's brow arched finely as he regarded the young male beneath him. The connection he spoke of, the nearly ancient being could feel the strange bond that lay between them as well. Yet to speak of it, to define it now, after all the history he'd seen and been through... It was not something he wanted to take a chance on when the past was all he had left...

"Come, you'll be late for your first class if you don't cease fantasizing whatever it is pups this day and age desire," came a flippant remark, Sesshomaru standing up and stretching in place.

Souta shot up into a sitting position, all missals ready to launch as he angrily began to declare, "I wasn't fantasiz-!" before stopping short as he realized exactly where his face was in regards to the youkai's own placement. Right. In front of. His-!

He squeezed his eyes shut but refused to move away. No, he'd stand his ground, but with his eyes safely closed. And not looking up into either the demon's emotionless, yet smirking, face, or directly in front of him at the sight of black sweats that stretched over a taut belly... and the crotch he was too afraid to know whether or not 'morning wood' affected even the oldest of powerful creatures.

No, no, he wouldn't look! He didn't want to know! It was way too intimate of an inquiry, and definitely way too intimate of a position! Souta worried his tongue. How'd he always end up involved in stuff like this! Had they not been at the youkai's home, and instead in Souta's, his mother would've walked in with Souta on the floor at face-level with the demon's crotch, both nearly naked and-! She'd have a heart attack for sure! She'd see her youngest child looking as if he were about to blow-

"If you suck it for too long, it will swell," came Sesshomaru's deep voice, causing a shiver to run up the flustered boy's spine.

Wait.

Suck? For too long? Swelling?

"Who's sucking what now-!" Souta blinked and paused mid-outburst as he found the youkai was no where to be seen in the bedroom. He sat in a stupor for a few more moments before his face bloomed red in realization.

Had Sesshomaru... had he just insinuated he thought he knew what Souta had been thinking in regards to their position just now? He didn't expect him to actually... DO THAT, did he?

"Hentai!" the boy cursed, standing up and gathering his clothes. When he walked out to the kitchen the youkai was leaning against the counter, sipping on tea and gazing at him.

"Just for your information, I have no intention of sucking ANYTHING you're in possession of!" the boy stated firmly, red face and twitching something-or-other having another opinion on the matter.

Sesshomaru put his tea down, and walked up to Souta, pausing before, "I was referring to your nervous habit of worrying your tongue when uncomfortable, boy. What could you possibly have thought I meant?" and with that, the demon left Souta to wallow in his horror.

Never once noticing the highly amused smirk that tugged at the sides of the demon lord's mouth.


	6. Reacquainted

**Chapter 6: Reacquainted**

Of three things he was absolutely sure about.

First, the boy for some reason had taken to living with him over the course of the past few days, and he himself had found that he didn't quite mind the odd human's companionship. It was certainly more lively and entertaining around his humble home, never mind the fact that the boy knew how to navigate his kitchen and laundry rooms fairly easily. He even cooked Sesshomaru the evening meal when he wasn't required to attend his evening classes on Tuesday and Thursdays at the University.

Second, he was out of milk, steak, eggs and tuna ("Note to self, stop by the grocers and secure items on list for the boy after this ridiculously short lecture that any idiot in biophysics could give.").

And lastly, he was, for the first time in his entire educational career, late for his lecture (or rather his comrade's class in which he would give a short lecture in today whereas he'd usually sit in the office and maintain the mounds of paperwork the foolish human would try to hide under the desk so he wouldn't have to organize and file it himself).

However, as he blurred through the hallways and carefully made to stop in front of classroom 211, the youkai's brow bunched together at the note slapped onto the door:

NO CALSS TODAY! ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE DUE NEXT

WEDNESDAY, PLUS YOU SHOULD HAND IN A ROUGH

DRAFT OF YOUR FINAL ESSAY! ANY QUESTIONS YOU

MAY HAVE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TOWARD MY PARA-

PROFESSIONAL, SESSHOMARU-SAN (YOU CAN REACH

HIM AT THIS NUMBER- but only on the weekdays- HERE!: 555-2485)

Multiple paper tabs had been made at the bottom of the paper, each tab having Sesshomaru's cell phone number written on it, or so he presumed since not one tab had been left and the note of "NO CALSS" was nearly torn in two.

"Ah! Sho-san!" came an annoyingly cheery voice from behind.

Sesshomaru's eye twitched. The only person who had had the audacity to call him that repulsive and rather insulting bastardization was the young human male that currently resided at his home uninvited. How Tomishi had heard Souta say that name the one time the boy had uttered it in public a few days ago (and then promptly told to NOT) was completely beyond him. And with how Tomishi butted into his business whenever he found an opportune moment... well, he really didn't want to know.

"If you wish to keep your tongue inside your mouth, I suggest keeping it between your teeth and never utter that cursed bastardization again, Tomishi," the youkai said dangerously.

Tomishi felt the shiver of annoyance crawl over his skin from the agitation Sesshomaru put off.

"You spelled 'class' wrong, by the way."

"Ah?" Tomishi blinked and followed the other's gaze. "Oh! So I did..." Sesshomaru turned to stare at him, and for a few moments, utter silence was all the followed. "N-nani?"

The demon frowned. "Why have you cancelled today's lecture?"

"Oh!" Tomishi's eyes lit up as he hit the open palm of his hand with his fist lightly. "I finally concluded one of my research cases!"

"Hmm? Which one?" The youkai's head cocked to one side ever so slightly it was hard for anyone that didn't know him to have seen it, never mind knew that it meant the demon was indeed interested in this declaration since he had organized, shared and stored every bit of information he'd found on the cases he knew the human was involved in.

"Oh... well, it's actually one I... uhm... didn't tell you about..." Tomishi finished awkwardly, face bright red and looking anywhere but UP at the surely narrowed golden orbs that stared right back at him, and then through his weak, mortal soul.

When no sound came, Tomishi chanced a look upwards. And flinched before trying to placate the even more so agitated demon. "C-calm down! Heh heh! I'll show you, no need to get so uppity! Come on, we can go have a drink and then go-"

Sesshomaru sighed looking at his wrist watch. "The five minutes that it would have taken to give that ridiculous speech you asked me to is well over and moving into twenty. I am on a tight schedule, Tomishi, and need to-"

"-stop by the grocers for the things on Souta-kun's shopping list so he can make dinner for us tonight?" Tomishi finished, smiling like he had just helped and hadn't just gotten himself in trouble.

"And how exactly do you-"

"I listened to your voice messages-!" Tomishi cut off abruptly as the youkai towered over him ominously. "It's just that you had 32 messages! And the machine can only hold 35! Most of it was students wanting... uh, help with their homework! I was just leaving my office when I heard your phone ring and the machine click on, then Souta-kun's message... that's all!"

The demon stared, frowning hard. "You are impossible." He then turned on a heel and started walking back down the corridor to move on with his day.

"W-wait! I wanted to show you my research's end!" Tomishi cried out, scrambling after the striding, angry man.

"I do not have time for this right now, Tomishi. The boy is waiting-"

"It won't take long, I swear! Here, this way!" Tomishi steered the youkai toward his office door, carefully unlocked it while still hanging onto the other's sleeve.

"_Tomishi_," came a warning tone.

"It'll just take a second, I promise! And if you aren't interested in staying longer, then you can go!" the human promised desperately, and then softly knocked the door open with the heel of his foot.

"What exactly is so important that-"

"Yo, Tomishi. What's taking so... long-..." a new voice interrupted.

Sesshomaru was speechless at the person who'd just walked out of Tomishi's office. He stared, and stared...

And stared, heart pounding, mind on infinite repeat of one word... one name...

"I... Inu-yasha..."

* * *

Author's Note: Oh. Oh, shit.


End file.
